Eurex Clearing is to lower the fixed clearing fees for equity transactions on Xetra and the floor of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange with effect from July 1, with the fixed clearing fee for Xetra transactions to be reduced by 20 percent to EUR0.40 per order, while the volume-dependent clearing fee remains unchanged at 0.0015 percent of the transaction value.

The changes reduce the total clearing fee for Xetra transactions by an average of about 8 percent. Eurex says the lower fees make algorithmic trading, which currently accounts for around 50 per cent of all Xetra orders and 40 percent of the trading volume, even more attractive.

In addition, Eurex Clearing says, the fee reductions will have a particular impact on clients which have not yet profited from the existing discount model for automatically generated orders, and so encourages the continuing growth of particularly price-sensitive trading volumes.

The clearing fee for floor trading transactions on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange will be lowered by 10 percent to EUR0.45 per contract note, making the exchange more attractive for private investors as well as institutions.

Algorithmic trading, the firm says, ensures higher liquidity and consequently tighter spreads, benefiting all market participants. Deutsche Börse Group has supported algorithmic trading since the beginning of 2005 as part of the Automated Trading Program by granting discounts of up to 49 percent on Xetra transaction fees.

The programme was also expanded to include Eurex Clearing transaction fees at the beginning of October last year. The Xetra trading volume concluded under the ATP has grown at an above-average rate. It stood at EUR80bn in May this year, up by 30 percent from the level a year earlier.